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Comp.misc newsgroup Wiki
This document is an introduction to the Usenet comp.misc newsgroup. It was last updated on 10 March 2014. CHARTER The comp.misc newsgroup has existed for several decades, but like much of Usenet, fell into disuse in the early 21st century. In February 2014, it was somewhat suddenly reinvigorated by a group of former users of the www.slashdot.org website. Those users had decided the latest version of the slashdot interface ("beta") inhibited the good conversation that had made the site so interesting in the first place, and decided to go congregate somewhere else. As a lot of these were Usenet users since the old days, they discovered a renewed interest in and appreciation for Usenet, and they decided to go back to Usenet, making comp.misc their home. Despite claims this constituted "carpetbaggers from the web," the newsgroup's participants are - in large part - longstanding Usenet users whose passion for the platform was renewed as the web grew less useful as a platform for communication. The users of comp.misc hope to make it (again) a site where subjects of general interest to a technologically-savvy crowd can be posted and discussed in an ambience of collaboration, respect, and diplomacy. Like Slashdot and other similar websites over time that have hoped to appeal to techies, such subject may include but are not limited to: *Operating systems, programming techniques and languages, business developments in the tech sector, communication protocols, current, future, and past platforms, protocols, and equipment, mobile technologies, gadgets, privacy concerns, and websites or services of potential interest to the community. In general, the community hopes to avoid, where possible, particularly devisive or polemic subjects - politics, especially - that would detract from discussion of the above, and where necessary, to engage in political debate with tact and diplomacy, recognizing that such debates (flame wars) have led to the destruction of formerly vibrant Usenet communities in the past. The users have agreed to also use misc.news.internet.discuss for subjects related to science and technology but not directly relevant to computing per se. They have also agreed to contribute to other Usenet groups as relevant while respecting those other groups' cultures and communication. Therefore, the practice is generally as follows: *'Comp.Misc: '''computing, OSes, mobile phones and technology, programming languages, technologies, and protocols, devices, hardware, software. *'Misc.News.Internet.Discuss: sciences other than computer science, discussion of website practices (discussion of the practices of social networking sites, for example), issues of privacy/security, entertainment (such as video games), and other subjects not directly related to computers. *'''Cross-posting: where a relevant Usenet group exists, posts add a single cross-post, with follow-ups set to that other group. Subjects are prefixed with CM to indicate to the other group the origin of the cross post and to permit blocking if those discussions are not desired. Where other groups express a commonly-held dislike for discussion overflow from Comp.misc, it will be respected. FAQs This group currently has no FAQs, and as it is not dedicated to the in-depth discussion of any single subject, is unlikely to have them any time soon. Customs Original posts commonly are a snippet from a news story, or a summary followed by a link to the story. It is also common to ask questions on a technical topic starting with "Ask Usenet:" See the note on cross-posting above (important!). Revision history 2014-02-23 Original draft, Randall Wood 2014-03-10 Added misc.news.internet.discuss and cross-posting notes. Randall Wood. Category:Browse